Nehalem, OR

Nehalem sits where the Nehalem River meets Nehalem Bay on Oregon’s north coast, with U.S. Route 101 running through the middle of town. Incorporated in 1889, it grew around river travel, lumber, and the narrow business strip that parallels the water. The old mill-era landscape survives in wood pilings from a former railroad track in the North Fork Nehalem River. State parks, campgrounds, the bay, and the river keep the city tied to the coast, while Neah-Kah-Nie School District serves northern Tillamook County. The 2020 census counted 355 residents.

Nehalem’s current community life gathers at the North County Recreation District, whose indoor pool, fitness center, skate ramp, classes, and senior programs serve the surrounding area. The NCRD Performing Arts Center is also home to Riverbend Players, a volunteer theater group that has staged comedies, dramas, mysteries, radio plays, and musicals for more than two decades. That gives a small highway town a civic center with both recreation and performance. Nehalem’s map stays compact—one business block along 101, the river beside it—but its daily connections reach across the bay, the county, and the coastal recreation landscape.